About Me

Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata in her very own words had said about Mr Bhutoria ---
“He is a boy with a different vision altogether”. ---
Sundeep Bhutoria is a man with a mission – to make meaningful contribution to the betterment of society and to promote Indian art and culture at home and abroad.
Born in Churu in the Shekhawati region of India’s desert state of Rajasthan, Sundeep is very well known in the social, literary, diplomatic and the political circles in India.
A globetrotter, Mr Bhutoria straddles across worlds and wears many caps – a popular youth icon, tireless social worker and activist, ardent admirer of Indian art and culture, a successful businessman - he is engaged in many UNA projects holding key positions. He is closely associated with many social welfare organisations and trusts.
He loves to read,writes columns in dailies, plays the violin and enjoys playing golf and watching polo. He lives in Kolkata (India) with his wife Manjari but divides his time between Rajasthan, Delhi and London each year.
In a short time he has achieved many milestones and recognitions.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

With Nandana Sen and John Makinson at the Rambagh Palace on Jan 16, 2014

Jaipur,
January 19, 2014: I attended the Penguin Random House Dinner
at Rambagh Palace on Friday evening. It was nice of John
Makinson and Nandana to invite me.

With Amish Tripathy

Yesterday
was a busy day again. I attended a lunch hosted by educationist
Jayshree Periwal and family in honour of India's top selling author,
Amish Tripathy.

From the
lunch meeting I went to attend the 16th
Vintage & Classic Car Rally that is being organised in
association with the Tourism Department, Government of
Rajasthan. Thanks to Vinnie and Saurabh Kakkar who took me there and
my thanks to Sudhir Kasliwal who had invited me to the function.

The
vintage car rally is held in Jaipur every year and has already become
a rage among the classic car lovers in the state.

With Sudhir Kasliwal (file picture)

This time the
timing, coinciding with Litfest has added yet another element of
great event to the city's itinerary and especially when many foreign
guests are flying in.

This two
day vintage car exhibition is any car lover's dream. Some of the
original beauties from the 1920s to the 1970s along with vintage
models of the cars like Bentley, Jaguar, Ford, Rolls Royce,
Chrysler, Rover, Hudson, Lancia, Buick, Daimler, Cadillac, Packard,
and Studebaker, besides other classic makes were on display.
It seemed like we were transported to some earlier era.

From
there I headed to the litfest to participate at one of the sessions
at the Jaipur Litfest called the Dharohar: The
Legacy of Rajasthani Culture session at the Baithak. It was a
discussion in which the sarpanch of Soda village, Chhavi Rajawat, promoter of folk music, K C Maloo, also participated. Eminent archaeologist and historian Rima Hooja moderated the discussion.

The panelists put
forth their views on the subject i.e., Rajasthani legacy. I
expressed mine by saying that the society teaches us several things like traditions, culture and so on but for me legacy is of utmost importance. Songs sung by women in marriages to
me are a part of a rich legacy. I said, sanskriti, samaj and parampara is our dharohar. In fact, dharorar is ritual in every aspect. To save our legacy and to continue with it, there has to be change, dharohar cannot be defined by the lines of caste, society or language. I further said that our social values, traditions and our lifestyle are what we call legacy. But there is no point following those traditions that have no relevance today. The purity of our art, craft and music, which is part of the desert state of state should be retained addressing erstwhile royals with titles like Maharaja and Maharani is no legacy. Also, singing bhanjans set to Bollywood tunes by no means imply the preservation of tradition - it is a sheer mockery of our cultural legacy.

With Chhavi Rajawat, Rima Hooja and K C Maloo

The
discussion on the serious topic had its lighter moments and we shared
a laugh or two. It was a very exhilarating experience for me.

At about
10:30 pm yesterday I went to an editor friend's birthday bash that on
full swing when I left at around 1 am.